Saturday, June 30, 2007

Chinatown - 1974, directed by Roman Polanski


This was one of my very first "favourite" movies. I remember the first time I saw it, I was enraptured, and found the ending tearfully heartbreaking. John Huston's performance as the manipulative Noah Cross remains my absolute favourite supporting performance of all-time (and also my favourite performance by someone who's primary work is as a director). Every line he utters is done perfectly. This was the movie that made Jack Nicholson a star, and to this day remains one of his best performances.

Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson), a Los Angeles detective who has made a name for himself by uncovering scandals, is hired by a woman claiming to be the wife of Hollis Mulwray. She suspects him of cheating on her, and wants Gittes to follow him and take pictures of him in the act. Shortly thereafter, another woman (Faye Dunaway) who is proven to be the real Mrs. Mulwray, comes to Jake and tells him to come off the case. A few days later, Hollis Mulwray turns up dead - his body found drowned in only a few inches of water.

Jake continues the case, and discovers that "ya can't always tell what's goin' on". Twist after twist uncovers truths that proves this case to be much more deep and impossible to close than he could have predicted. He and the real Mrs. Mulwray become romantically involved, a relationship that her father Noah Cross (John Huston) is strictly against. Cross' involvement in the case becomes more and more direct, and culminates in one of the more shocking revelations in film.

Jack Nicholson is great at "playing it straight". His Jake is cool, generally calm, intelligent and likeable. Faye Dunaway gives the performance of her career as Evelyn Mulwray, and imbues panache and flair in a role that could have easily been undesireably over the top. The film belongs to John Huston though, as every moment we spend with Noah Cross, we like him a little less, yet become interested a little more. He delivers, not only one but two of my favourite movie lines of all-time:

Noah Cross (to Gittes): You may think you know what you're dealing with, but, believe me, you don't.

and...

Noah Cross: See, Mr. Gitts, most people never have to face the fact that, at the right time and the right place, they're capable of... anything!

This film is a one of a kind, one of the very best mystery stories ever committed to film. This is the film that established Jack Nicholson as my all-time favourite actor. Full of surprises, excellently paced, and never a dull moment, Chinatown offers a complete film with one of the best-acted villains, and a hero who's as cool and likeable as any. The screenplay is generally considered one of the best ever written, and is studied as the basis of how to write a successful script. With all this going for it, Chinatown is engrossing, entertaining, heartbreaking, and unmistakably perfect.

© 2007 Kim Bartlett

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